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of a large tree, faced by the four dogs, who kept up a continuous 

 Ijarking and snapping at them. This was kept up for a minute 

 or two, when the angered rovers of the woods put a stop to this 

 truculent intrusion by frightfully mutilating with their tusks two 

 of their annoyers. The wailing and groaning of these poor 

 animals was pitiful to hear ; but nothing could be done to them 

 before the quanks were killed. After seeing that the remaining 

 dogs were not in ourway, two shots were simultaneoitsly fired, both 

 taking efiect and bringing to the ground these daring little animals. 

 Upon a close examination of their skins it was found that they 

 too, had had their share of bites, though with the difterence, that 

 their's were mere skin-bruises, while the dogs' were deep flesh- 

 wounds. Of all the wild animals of the Trinidad forest, the quank 

 is the most savage and pugnacious. They are known, after 

 having killed their common enemy, to sit on their haunches tearing 

 him into strands. In defending themselves, they sometimes rush 

 at and chase the dogs for fifty yards or more. 



Excitingandnot free from danger, as the foregoing mightseem 

 to the reader, there was, however, another incident which assumed 

 a far more fearful aspect. It was an encounter with the dreaded 

 mapepire (Lachesis nuitdis) which had inhabited or was asleep in 

 the hollow of the balata tree in which the quanks had taken 

 refuge, and as an instance of the sluggishness of this snake, if 

 not — as O'Reilly says — of the insensibility of ophidians to sound, 

 I can aver that notwithstanding the noise occasioned by the 

 barking of the dogs, chopping of the log, and report of the gun, 

 his snakeship had not been in the least disturbed until one of the 

 most daring of the dogs that had, on our return to this, the scene 

 of our first "kill," gone into the hollowed trunk rummaging in 

 quest of further possible game, indecorously seized and dragged 

 into the open this terrible animal. On realizing howevei*, what 

 was the nature of this fresh find, the dog immediately relaxed its 

 grip, thereby allowing its enemy a clear fighting field. The snake 

 now attacked by the half-dozen unwounded dogs, darted its ugly, 

 triangular head as quick as lightning, first at one dog and then at 

 another, sometimes missing but sometimes striking the infuriated 

 animals, and before we could get near enough to kill this death- 

 dealing brute, it had bitten four dogs, one dying almost immedi- 

 ately and another within fifteen minutes. These two unfortunate 

 creatures would not permit us to attend to their wounds ; they 

 ran off", howling piteously, succumbing to the eSectsof the venom 

 in the short time mentioned ; but the other two, one bitten on 

 the neck and the other on the paw, were promptly attended to, 

 and got well after a few days. The remedy used was a tincture I 

 carried, prepared from roots, barks and seeds, and is a pleasant, 

 though strong balsamic bitter. The two sick patients, though 



